What is Squad (squad.so)?

Squad, formerly MissionControlHQ, is a hosted service that gives you a team of AI teammates led by a Chief of Staff. They run on a cloud computer Squad keeps for your squad, on the Claude, ChatGPT or other AI account you connect, and you work with them in a web dashboard, a Mac app, or Telegram, Discord, Slack and email.

How much does Squad cost?

$99 a month per squad with a 7-day money-back guarantee, plus the AI plan you bring, billed by your provider. Email inboxes are $10 a month each, human seats $9, and extra squads $99. MausBot's app is free; Cloud plans start at $15 a month, and model usage also goes on your own account.

Can I approve every email before Squad sends it?

Not with a setting: Squad's docs say no setting forces approval, and suggest telling a teammate to draft replies and lowering its daily send cap. In MausBot, each bot's Sending on your behalf setting can be Ask every time for email, messages, posts and payments through connected apps.

Is Squad open source?

No. It is a hosted service run by its founder as a sole proprietor; its site says self-hosted deployments are handled case by case. MausBot is Apache 2.0 on GitHub, apart from an enterprise/ folder.

Does Squad run on my own computer?

No. Teammates run on your squad's cloud computer; with Squad for Mac, you can let them ask for files or your open browser tab. MausBot bots run on your own computer or server, or on cloud computers with a live desktop on a Cloud plan.

Comparison as of November 15, 2026, with both products as they were that day · Squad (squad.so)

Squad alternative: MausBot

A Squad (squad.so) alternative that is free and open source: a team of the AI agents you already have, each bot with its own computer, on Mac, Windows, Ubuntu.

Squad is a hosted team of AI teammates, led by a Chief of Staff, on one cloud computer per squad, for $99 a month plus the Claude, ChatGPT or other AI plan you bring. MausBot is the free, open source Squad alternative: one team of the AI agents you already have, on your own computer or server, or on a Cloud plan from $15 a month.

What Squad is

Squad, formerly MissionControlHQ, gives you AI teammates you run from a web dashboard, Squad for Mac, or a TestFlight beta for iPhone and iPad. A Chief of Staff designs the squad with you and adds teammates; each has its own job, schedule, access and log, and they chat with you and with each other, run tasks and routines, send email from their own inboxes, keep contacts and deals, and use a browser on the squad's cloud computer, which you can watch and take over. Teammates run on the AI account you connect, from Claude Code on a Claude plan, Squad's recommendation, to ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, GitHub Copilot and OpenRouter. You can also reach them from Telegram, Discord, Slack and email.

Launched: February 2026 (first release, per Squad's changelog). Sources: Squad; Squad: pricing; Squad docs: what Squad is; Squad docs: connect your AI subscription; Squad docs: control; Squad docs: FAQ; Squad docs: changelog; Squad: terms of service.

Why people look for a Squad alternative

$99 a month per squad before any AI usage, with your AI plan billed separately; email inboxes are $10 a month each and human seats $9.
No approval switch: Squad's docs say it does not ask you to approve an action before a teammate takes it unless the teammate chooses to ask or draft, and no setting forces approval of email.
One cloud computer per squad: all teammates share it, and Squad's docs say sign-ins made there may be usable by other people in your squad through the teammates.
Teammates run only on Squad's cloud computer, not on your own machine; Squad for Mac can lend them files or your open browser tab when you allow it.
Native apps only for Mac and, in TestFlight beta, iPhone and iPad; on Windows, Linux and Android you use the web dashboard.

Squad vs MausBot

The Squad column comes from the vendor's own pages and the press cited above, checked on November 15, 2026. Where the vendor has not said, the cell says so.

	Squad	MausBot
Price	$99 a month per squad plus your own AI plan; inboxes $10 each, human seats $9; 7-day money-back guarantee	Free and open source. Bots run on the Claude, ChatGPT or Grok account, or the API key, you already have
Models	Your own plan or key from 13 providers: Claude Code, ChatGPT and Codex, Grok, Gemini, Copilot, OpenRouter and more; a model per teammate; fallbacks	16 agent engines (Claude Code, Codex, Grok, Cursor, Copilot and more), API and local models; chosen per bot, switchable mid-conversation
Agents	Unlimited teammates led by a Chief of Staff, in group chats	As many bots as you like, in group chats, with a Chief of Staff that hands out work
Where it runs	One cloud computer per squad, shared by its teammates	Your own computer or server; cloud computers with a live desktop on a Cloud plan
Where your data lives	Squad's servers and your squad's cloud computer; never used to train models	~/.openmausbot on your own machine; prompts go only to the model provider you choose
Before it acts	No approval switch; teammates ask or draft when told to; daily send caps; card payments need the owner's OK	Full access by default, or Ask, Auto-accept edits or Approve for me per bot; sends can be set to ask every time
Keeps working with the laptop closed	Yes	Yes on a Cloud plan from $15 a month, or self-hosted free on your own server
Platforms	Web, Squad for Mac, iPhone and iPad (TestFlight beta); Telegram, Discord, Slack, email	macOS, Windows, Ubuntu; iPhone and Android apps
Open source	No	Yes. Apache 2.0 on GitHub, apart from an enterprise/ folder

What MausBot is

MausBot is a free, open-source app that runs a team of the AI agents you already have. Each bot has its own model, computer and connected apps, on Claude Code, Codex, Grok, Cursor, Copilot and other agent engines, API models or local models, using the accounts you already pay for. A Chief of Staff bot hands work to the others, bots share group chats, and every bot reads your About me. It runs on Mac, Windows and Ubuntu with iPhone and Android apps, keeps your data in ~/.openmausbot on your own machine, and is published on GitHub under Apache 2.0. You can self-host it free on your own server, and Cloud plans from $15 a month keep bots working with the laptop closed.

What Squad still does better

Stacks several accounts of one AI provider, so the next one takes over when one reaches its usage limit, with fallback models after that.
Reach your squad from Telegram, Discord, Slack or email as well as its apps; MausBot bots are reached in MausBot's own apps.
Contacts with deals and pipelines, a Tasks board with a Needs you list, and a run log of every call through your connections.

Other Squad alternatives

MausBot is the open-source option. The other agents in this category, each with its own comparison page:

Grok Bot by xAI: Grok Bot opened as a beta on August 11, 2026 and reached version 1.0 on November 2, 2026.
OpenAI dots by OpenAI: Dots launched on September 29, 2026.
ChatGPT Work by OpenAI: ChatGPT Work is an agent inside ChatGPT that OpenAI launched on July 9, 2026, built on Codex technology.
Meta Muse by Meta: Muse launched on September 8, 2026.

Every other comparison page: Grok Bot, OpenAI dots, ChatGPT Work, Meta Muse, Claude Cowork, Claude Duet, Gemini Spark, Perplexity Computer, Manus, Cue by Manus, Instinct, Poke, Viktor, Lindy, Turnstone, Bops, Hark Pro, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, Vellum, Open Dots, OpenBot, Rakazo, OpenMuse, OpenInstinct.

Frequently asked questions

What is Squad (squad.so)?: Squad, formerly MissionControlHQ, is a hosted service that gives you a team of AI teammates led by a Chief of Staff. They run on a cloud computer Squad keeps for your squad, on the Claude, ChatGPT or other AI account you connect, and you work with them in a web dashboard, a Mac app, or Telegram, Discord, Slack and email.
How much does Squad cost?: $99 a month per squad with a 7-day money-back guarantee, plus the AI plan you bring, billed by your provider. Email inboxes are $10 a month each, human seats $9, and extra squads $99. MausBot's app is free; Cloud plans start at $15 a month, and model usage also goes on your own account.
Can I approve every email before Squad sends it?: Not with a setting: Squad's docs say no setting forces approval, and suggest telling a teammate to draft replies and lowering its daily send cap. In MausBot, each bot's Sending on your behalf setting can be Ask every time for email, messages, posts and payments through connected apps.
Is Squad open source?: No. It is a hosted service run by its founder as a sole proprietor; its site says self-hosted deployments are handled case by case. MausBot is Apache 2.0 on GitHub, apart from an enterprise/ folder.
Does Squad run on my own computer?: No. Teammates run on your squad's cloud computer; with Squad for Mac, you can let them ask for files or your open browser tab. MausBot bots run on your own computer or server, or on cloud computers with a live desktop on a Cloud plan.

This comparison is based on Squad and MausBot as they were on November 15, 2026. Both products change. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will correct it.